John Allen could face court-martial

Marine Gen. John Allen’s alleged involvement in the romantic triangle that ensnared David Petraeus could lead to something seldom glimpsed in the American history of war: the court-martial of a top battlefield commander.

Defense officials say Allen insists he has done nothing wrong, though they acknowledged he exchanged “potentially inappropriate” emails with MacDill AFB socialite Jill Kelley. But if the Defense Department’s investigation finds Allen did more than write her and actually engaged in an extramarital relationship, he would be subject to prosecution under military justice.

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Gerstein: New implications in Petraeus, Broadwell scandal

Gen.: Allen’s ‘bizarre’ behavior

Pentagon: Allen still commander

The key distinction between Petraeus and Allen: Sources say Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell began after he retired from the Army while Allen remains on active duty.

Although adultery is rarely a criminal matter in the civilian world, it is formally barred under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Allen remains subject even as the senior four-star commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. If the DoD inspector general’s report concludes Allen violated the UCMJ, it would present his immediate boss, Gen. James Mattis of Central Command — and Pentagon officials in Washington — with what could be some tough choices.

Should they let Allen, 58, just retire from the Marine Corps or should they prosecute him? If he is cleared and wants to stay on duty, should the president continue to support his taking over the post in charge of European Command? That would require confirmation by the Senate — Allen will not take part in what would have been his confirmation hearing Thursday — and it could become a circus. For now, Allen apparently continues to hold the confidence of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and by implication, President Barack Obama, as Panetta kept him on duty as the commander of Kabul even after Tuesday’s email revelations.

That’s compared to the case of another top American commander in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, who was charged with sexual assault earlier this year. Sinclair was suspended from his post in Kabul and sent home to Fort Bragg, N.C., to face military justice.

In Allen’s case, if Mattis, as the “convening authority,” thought there was enough evidence to hold what’s known as an “Article 32” hearing to determine whether Allen should be court-martialed, Allen would likely be taken off his assignment. Even if he weren’t prosecuted, his career would likely be over.

Readers' Comments (19)

Al Capone is out to get our Military Men, people.....go rewad and watch - Glenn Beck breaks down Patraeus Scandal : ' What are the Odds '? we have got very very dangerous people in Power right now.I wish they would hurry up and talk to these men before they CAN'T ! THEY NEED TO TESTIFY NOW !!!

Allen averaged 25 emails a day to this woman over three years? Doesn't he know our motto is Make War, Not Love? What is wrong with these generals?! I suspect Allen will go the way of Petraeus. Even if the emails were miraculously found to be sex-free, he should be dismissed from command for wasting so much time emailing on the job. But court-martial him? That’s way overdoing it.

This whole ordeal seems to be a heart cry from our leading warmongers: Make love, not war.

Our military is being attacked from all sides yet their COMMANDER IN CHIEF, who has nothing but disdain for our military, constantly gets a FREE PASS. Obama should be COURT MARTIALED (they have multiple reasons) and then IMPEACHED.

Glenn Beck is saying that Obama constructed this whole scandal, set up his Generals to engage in illegal adultery, ruined the careers of these good men, and all simply because he hates white people, or the white culture, or I don’t know what.

Wow, this site really draws some losers! Somehow, two generals who can't keep it in their pants comes back to being Obama's fault?

Get over it losers, you lost big last week. The conservative movement and tea party astroturf operation were miserable failures. Your lives are meaningless. Go hunker down in your house trailer, buy some gold, and stock up on canned goods as the apocalypse comes.

mlwm / dbeja You two need to stop smoking that GOP azz crack and watching fox noise, get out of your mothers basement and get a job. You have NO clue what your talking about, just two racist white trash teanut repubs that get your talking points from fox noise and right wing web sites. Just go away, we do not need your type.

Bl*w J*b Billy is a HERO! Laugh out Loud! Just tell them it all depends on what "is" is. And "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and they will ADORE you. Lie, cheat, steal, anything you want, just say you are a democrat and they will love you!

Come on, your headline writer is ignorant of recent history. Generals and Admirals don't get court-martialed anymore. Consider the case of Generals Miller and Sanchez in Iraq. And their civilian counterparts don't get prosecuted either. For really bad behavior they get a Presidential Freedom Medal!

Now, if a low-level enlisted person can be blamed instead, it is OK to prosecute them and send them to prison.

OOPS. John Kerry's name in all this? Uck. Evidently Gen Allen helped jill Kelley's sis out too. maybe someone can do a diagram of this scandle. Twin sisters? How would anyone know?

And in court documents filed by Kelley's sister Natalie Khawam, she name-drops both Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island -- who both have ties to a Providence, RI, lawyer/lobbyist who loaned a whopping $300,000 to Khawam.

Khawam claimed in a July 12 letter to her estranged husband that she took their son "on vacation last year to Martha Vineyard," where their son and "I had a great time at the DSCC [Democratic Senate Campaign Committee] event."

"Sen. John Kerry asked if [her son] would be coming again this year," Khawam wrote. "[Their son] was a superstar at the DSCC last year."

A spokeswoman for Kerry – who the Washington Post reports is being considered as President Obama's next secretary of defense -- had no immediate comment